Neo Ornamentation
Neo Ornamentation: Redefining Creative Reaction as Commercial Output Blurring Lines Between Art and Fashion, a research installation piece by David Thomas and Vicki Fong, presented at the IFFTI 2015 'Momenting the Momento' conference, Florence.
A group of six individuals worked within a controlled and recorded environment in order to produce a united creative expression through the mediums and crafts related to Fashion design and production.
Within education, we are constantly considering new approaches to developing creative expression and reflection from it. This project has suggested Creative reaction as the core of design understanding. It could be argued that the fashion industry continues to grow and thrive as a commercial entity that relies on capital growth but limits creative output by emphasising on the development of “product” for the consumer. Whether good or bad, product development is integral within a contemporary design process.
If commercial context remains to be the largest driving force within the fashion industry, if the contemporary consumers want or need to be exposed to a particular perspective or lifestyle via a product continues. Will developments in moving image play a more integral role in promoting, archiving and translating to an audience what designer’s perceive as their “creative process”?
3 films were produced, each recording being 90 minutes long and each student had a time slot of 15 minutes to create, destroy, manipulate or refine existing garments. The film’s objective was to capture a creative reaction and suggest the possibilities of translating them in to potentially valued commodities for both educational and commercial purposes.
These garments were arranged in such a manner to represent what could be considered as a stereotypical look within contemporary England:
Look 1: The office attire – pin stripe pencil skirt, Jacket and jersey rib roll neck top
Look 2: A man without aesthetic – Denim jeans with rib detailing, cotton shirt, and wool/polyester mix waistcoat.
Look 3: Mum with 2.4 children: ¾ length Wadded Parka Coat with Fake Fur Hood Trim
These looks were chosen to link abstractly or directly to the selected audio and visual footage that was shown to the students throughout the duration of the exercise. The students were asked to focus on the audio and visual footage with regards to finding inspiration or reasoning behind their actions throughout the duration of the exercise.
